Front end loader



May 24, 1966 c. E. PRYOR 3,252,606

FRONT END LOADER Filed March 23, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TOR.

BY Claude E. Pryor yMwQL Attorneys May 24, 1966 Q5. PRYOR FRONT ENDLOADER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 23, 1964 INVENTOR.

May 24, 1966 c. E. PRYOR FRONT END LOADER 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March225, 1964 INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,252,606 FRONT END LOADER Claude E. Pryor, 1105Santa Barbara Drive,

' Santa Rosa, Calif. Filed Mar. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 353,765 3 Claims.(Cl. 214140) This invention relates to earth moving equipment and moreparticularly to front end loaders.

Front end loaders are of course well known and generally include atractor equipped with a rectangular, wide mouth bucket carried acrossthe front of the tractor on the ends of arms or booms. The arms arepowered to raise and lower the bucket as well as to articulate same withrespect to the ends of the arms.

In general it is an object of the present invention to provide moreversatile front end loading equipment.

One typical chore for conventional front end loaders is found inhandling dirt piled up alongside a building. This situation frequentlyoccurs where a trench for an underground sewer line or the like is dugalongside the building and spaced eight or ten feet out from the wall.During the trenching operation the excavated dirt is conveniently piledup against the building. After the sewer line or piping is laid in placethe dirt is then removed from the side of the building and filled backinto the trench. When using a front end loader, this requires reachingacross the trench to first scoop up the dirt, then backing up anddumping each load into the trench.

An object of the present invention is to provide a front end loader forgreatly facilitating the handling of dirt under the above circumstances.

Another problem with front end loaders of conventional design is that inpicking up small piles of materials the bucket must be thrust quicklyand sharply into or under the pile. Otherwise the pile will merely bemoved continuously ahead of the bucket causing the bucket to chase thepile. Chasing is well known. In seeking to avoid the problem quickthrusts of the tractor are used. Considerable wear and tear is therebyoccasioned in the drive train of the tractor.

Another object of the invention is to provide a front end loaderarrangement whereby the need to overcome chasing is entirely eliminated.

Still another problem found in front end loaders is that of spillage ofthe load from the bucket caused by tipping the buckets when the boomsare elevated to a high angle. This problem is significant to pavingcontractors and others when handling the more costly sand and gravelmaterials. Thus, at least one manufacturer has recognized the economicneed for controlling such spillage by installing load-levelingparallelogram members coupled to the bucket and support arms to maintainloads level when raising them to high angles.

The foregoing and other problems have been readily solved by front endloading equipment according to the present invention wherein a closuremember is hinged across the rear edge of the bucket and formed at itsopposite edge with a grading lip. The surface of the closure member iscontinuous to form, with the inner surface of the bucket, asubstantially continuous surface curving from the grading lip around tothe scooping lip of the bucket. Thus, dirt being scraped by the gradinglip during rearward movement of the tractor is rolled upwardly andcurled backwardly through the mouth of the bucket where it can either beenclosed and lifted by closure of the loader or scraped a distance asmay be needed to reach a trench.

Patented May 24, 1965 Other objects will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of loading apparatus according to theinvention showing the equipment picking up materials in a clam-shellstyle movement;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 3 and 4, taken with FIGURE'I, show three stages of movement ofthe loader bucket and closure member maintained fully open whereby thelip of the closure member moves in a vertical plane for operationagainst walls and the like;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation view of a front end loader according to thepresent invention showing the bucket thereof disposed to scoop in aplane generally parallel to ground level and wherein the closure memberis formed movable between open and closed positions whereby the lip ofthe latter sweeps downwardly and somewhat rearwardly in an arc to scoopmaterials toward the tractor to load the bucket;

FIGURE 6 is a side elevation view similar to FIGURE 5 wherein the bucketis advanced forwardly for scooping materials in a direction parallel tothe ground but spaced substantially thereabove;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevation viewv showing an overfilled bucket ofmaterials handled at moderately high elevation without need for levelingthe bucket;

FIGURE 8 is a side elevation view of a front end loader according to thepresent invention whereby the bucket and closure member coact to providea hopperlike construction including a narrow dispensing slot extendingtransversely of the direction of movement of the tractor to permit thelaying down of a swath of paving material of substantially uniform depthalong the path; and

FIGURE 9 shows the grading lip of the closure member in position toscrape dirt from an upright wall into a trench adjacent same.

As shown in FIGURE 1, a tractor 10 is provided and equipped as a frontend loader. A main frame 11 is bolted or otherwise fastened to thetractor and carries a rugged, triangularly braced front guard 12. At therear of the tractor is a counterweight 13 for providing increasedtraction as well as balance. A pair of uprights 14 are located on eachside of the tractor. Between their upper ends there is provided atrunnion bar 15 extending transversely of the tractor. Trunnion bar 15supplies a relatively large bearing surface and pivotally supports theends of a pair of rigid, box-welded steel loader arms or booms 16.

A pair of connector pin support plates 17 are welded to both sides ofeach boom between the ends. Plates 17 are pivotally connected to theextensible end of a doubleacting hydraulic ram 19 by means of pins 18.Ram 19 is operated by suitable controls and valve means 21 controllingthe fiow of fluid thereto through hoses 22. The lower end of ram 19 ispivotally anchored by a pin 23 extending through a mounting pad 24 andthe end of the ram cylinder.

By suitably operating controls 21, ram 19 is actuated to raise and lowerbooms 16. A corresponding simultaneously actuated hydraulic ram islocated on the reverse side of tractor 10 to aid in the boom movement.Accordingly, booms 16 are movable between lowered and raised positionsas shown in the drawings by retracting or extending rams 19.

Means are provided for articulated movement of a rectangular, open mouthbucket 25 carried across the front of the tractor. Thus, bucket 25 ispivotally supported upon the ends of both booms 16. On each boom, ashackle pin 26 is journaled through the sides of a bracket 27 and theboom ends. Brackets 27 are elongated and at their upper ends eachcarries a second shackle pin 28 disposed to pivotally connect theextensible end of an articulating ram 29. The opposite end of each ram29' tangular mouth comprised of parallel side edges 32,. 33,;

a rear edge 34, and a front edge 35. All edges 3235 are reinforced by aband of material 36 attached thereto. Edge 35 is formed and adapted toprovide a scooping lip for digging into materials to be handled, such asdirt and the like.

By suitable controls 37 an operator of the front end loading equipmentis able to articulate the bucket to move the plane defined by the rim ofthe mouth to selectively slant the plane forwardly or rearwardly from a'vertical plane as shown'respectively in FIGURES l and 5, merely byrespectively extending or retracting ram means 29. The extent ofprojection of ram 25 and freedom of articulated movement of the bucketis suflicient to dispose grading lip 43 well below scooping lip 35 as inFIGURE 9;

A convex scoop shaped closure member 38 is hinged to the rear edge 34 ofbucket 25. The ends 39, 41 are formed of flat sheet material ofsubstantial thickness to provide rigidity. The edges 42 are formed toclose jaw like to either a slightly overlapping relation or, if desired,into contact with the edges 32, 33 of bucket 25.

Closure member 38 is co-extensive with the mouth of bucket 25 andthereby encloses the contents of same, and more, to permit overfillingof the-bucket. The transverse edge 43 of closure member 38' provides agrading or scraping lip movable toward the tractor to close upon themouth of bucket 25. Closure member 38 is hinged from Thus, as shownin'FIGURE 9 dirt or other materials 50 being scraped will, uponreversing the tractor, be rolled upwardly and folded backwardly into themouth of the bucket. At this position the material may be furthercarried over into a trench 51. Or, if desired, it can be enclosed Withinthe bucket for transporting same elsewhere merely by extending ram 44.

Means serving to open and close member 38 upon bucket 25 includes adouble-acting hydraulicram 44 pivot ally coupled by a pin 45 journaledin a bracket 46 welded to the back of closure member 38. The other endof ram 45 is pivotally supported by pin 47 carried on the end of atriangularly shaped mounting bracket 48 welded to extend outwardlysufficiently from the back side of bucket 25 to permit extension of ram44 to firmly close lip 43 to lip 35. Suitable conventional double-actingram controls disposed near controls 21, 37 are utilized to operate ram44 in a double-acting manner via hoses 49" and thereby open and closesame.

As shown in sequence in FIGURES 6, 7, [and 8, it will be readily evidentthat the bucket and closure member, when closed together, are furthersupported to be movable to a position disposing a plane definedgenerally by the rim of bucket 25 to a generally vertical orientation.Fluid pressure means, such as ram 44, is then further operable toslightly open the closure member 25 so as to space the respective lips35, 43 to form a narrow dispensing the rear edge of the rim of thebucket, the opposite edge of the closure member being smooth to form agrading slot 52 therebetween. Slot 52 is coextensive with lips 35, 43and extends transversely of the path of movement completely enclosedenvelope 53 (FIGURE 7), except for the slot 52. The inside surfaces ofbucket 25 and closure member 38 slant downwardly at a relatively highangle 54, 55 toward the dispensing slot to feed the entire contents ofthe envelope 53 to slot 52 for even distribution therefrom to provide auniform depth of paving materials, for example, along the path oftractor It From the foregoing it will be readily evident that there hasbeen provided herein a highly versatile front end loader having thedistinct advantages pointed out above.

What is claimed is: t

1. Earth moving equipment comprising a tractor, a front end loaderbucket having a generally rectangular mouth, boom means supporting thebucket across the front of the tractor and means to raise and lower thefront edge being formed to provide a reinforced scooping lip, acurvedclosure member hinged along one edge to lip disposed to scrape materialstoward the tractor, the

closure member including a rectangular imperforate sheet 7 of metal bentto form an arcuate surface extending between the grading lip and therear edge of the bucket and coextensive with both to forma substantiallyimperviouscontinuous surface curving from said grading lip around tosaid scooping lip to roll materials being scraped by the grading lipupwardly and folded backwardly through th mouth of the bucket.

2. In earth moving equipment according toclaim 1 further comprising.means whereby when said bucketv and closure member areclosed togetherthey are supported to be movable to a position disposing the first namedplane to a generally vertical orientation, said'fluid pressure meansbeing further operable to slightly open the closure mem.

ber to space the respective lips of the bucket and closure member whenin said-position to form a narrow dispensing slot therebetweenco-extensive with the lips and extending transversely of the path ofmovement of the tractor,

in said position the insidesurfaces of both the bucket and closuremember forming a completely enclosed envelope except for said slots, thesurfaces of said bucket and closure member slanting downwardly at arelatively high angle toward the dispensing slot to feed the entirecontents of the envelope to the slot for even distribution therefromalong said path.

3. Earth moving equipment according to' claim 2 further comprising meanswhereby, with the closure member fully open with respect to the bucket,and while maintaining the tractor stationary, the closure member. andbucket.

are supported who carried by the booms and articulatable with'respectthereto to move the'grading lip of the closure member substantially in avertical plane from a raised position above the tractor downwardly toground level to cause said grading lip and the curved'cl-osure member towedge material away from upright walls and fold the material backwardlyinto the mouth of the bucket, said 010- sure member being selectivelymovable with or with respect to said tractor to grade materials awayfrom the upright walls or enclose them within the bucket.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,470,779 4/1949Lankovski et al. 2l4145 3,003,265 10/1961 Lutjens 37117.5 X

HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner.

1. EARTH MOVING EQUIPMENT COMPRISING A TRACTOR, A FRONT END LOADERBUCKET HAVING A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR MOUTH, BOOM MEANS SUPPORTING THEBUCKET ACROSS THE FRONT OF THE TRACTOR AND MEANS TO RAISE AND LOWER THEBOOM MEANS, THE BUCKET BEING ARTICULATED WITH RESPECT TO THE BOOM MEANSAND MEANS TO MOVE SAME TO BE TILTED FORWARDLY AND BACKWARDLY TO DISPOSEA PLANE DEFINED GENERALLY BY THE RIM OF THE MOUTH OF THE BUCKET TOSELECTIVELY SLANT AND PLANE BOTH FORWARDLY OR REARWARDLY FROM A VERTICALPLANE, SAID RIM INCLUIDNG FRONT AND REAR EDGES, THE FRONT EDGE BEINGFORMED TO PROVIDE A REINFORCED SCOPPIN G LIP, A CURVED CLOSURE MEMBERHINGED ALONG ONE EDGE TO THE REAR EDGE OF THE RIM OF THE BUCKET, THEOPPOSITE EDGE OF THE CLOSURE MEMBER BEING SMOOTH TO FORM A GRADING LIPDISPOSED TO SCRAPE MATERIALS TOWARD THE TRACTOR, THE CLOSURE MEMBERINCLUDING A RECTANGULAR IMPERFORATE SHEET OF METAL BENT TO FORM ANARCUATE SURFACE EXTENDING BETWEEN THE GRADING LIP AND THE REAR EDGE OFTHE BUCKET AND COEXTENSIVE WITH BOTH TO FORM A SUBSTANTIALLY IMPERVIOUSCONTINUOUS SURFACE CURVING FROM SAID GRADING LIP AROUND TO SAID SCOOPINGLIP TO ROLL MATERIALS BEING SCRAPED BY THE GRADING LIP UPWARDLY ANDFOLDED BACKWARDLY THROUGH TH E MOUTH OF THE BUCKET.